Cry Father

The second novel from the critically acclaimed writer of Pike, which was nominated for France’s prestigious Grand Prix de Littérature Policière crime fiction award and “easily rivals Larry Brown’s most renowned novels” (Spinetingler Magazine). In the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and Larry Brown comes a haunting story about men, their fathers, their sons, and the legacy of violence.

For Patterson Wells, disaster is the norm. Working alongside dangerous, desperate, itinerant men as a tree clearer in disaster zones, he's still dealing with the loss of his young son. Writing letters to the boy offers some solace. The bottle gives more.

Upon a return trip to Colorado, Patterson stops to go fishing with an old acquaintance, only to find him in a meth-induced delirium and keeping a woman tied up in the bathtub. In the ensuing chain of events, which will test not only his future but his past, Patterson tries to do the right thing. Still, in the lives of those he knows, violence and justice have made of each other strange, intoxicating bedfellows.

Hailed as “the next great American writer” (Frank Bill, author of Crimes in Southern Indiana), Benjamin Whitmer has crafted a literary triumph that is by turns harrowing, darkly comic, and wise.

Available: France | Germany | USA

French translation by Jacques Mailhos.

"Since the death of Larry Brown there have been at least a dozen novelists touted as the heir to Brown’s gritty throne. Needless to say, there have been few who’ve actually lived up to the promise. However, Benjamin Whitmer’s stark debut [Pike] easily rivals Brown’s most renowned novels." — Spinetingler Magazine

"Whitmer's bleak tale of dysfunctional father-son relationships contains some shockingly violent scenes, captures the seedy milieus of rundown mountain towns, and tallies the enormous cost of loving and losing." — Booklist

"Whitmer’s deft descriptions of biker bars, greasy spoons and mean streets are as spot-on as his clear, clean appreciation of the high country." — Kirkus

"Benjamin Whitmer’s latest, Cry Father, is a gut punch of raw storytelling power. A novel of fathers and sons, and the constant — and at times emotionally crippling — mistakes both make. Much like Whitmer’s first novel, it is absolutely uncompromising and one of 2014's must read novels." — Lit Reactor

"Magnificent." — Bernard Poirette, RTL

"Sixty-four ultra short chapters draw the edges of a universe of human misery and paranoia." — Yann Perreau, Les Inrocktibles

"It's sadly enjoyable, and there are plenty of little details that anchor us in a reality as if everything were true, ugly and dark." — Julien Védrenne, K-Libre

 

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